Warmup Quiz Study Guide!

EGYPT!

Eight Topics We will read as a class together You and your partner will look at the picture Then answer the question! Then we’ll see if you were right!

Topic 1: Geography of Egypt From the highlands of East Africa to the Mediterranean Sea, the Nile River flows northward across Africa for over 4,100 miles, making it the longest river in the world. A thin ribbon of water in a parched desert land, the great river brings its water to Egypt from distant mountains and regions. Egyptian farmers were much more fortunate than the villagers of Mesopotamia. Compared to the unpredictable Tigris and Euphrates rivers, the Nile flooded on a regular schedule yearly. The abundance brought by the Nile was so great that the Egyptians worshiped it as a god who gave life and seldom turned against them. Egypt was the “gift of the Nile.”

Topic 2: Leaders To the Egyptians, kings were gods. The Egyptian god-kings, called pharaohs, were thought to be almost as splendid and powerful as the gods of the heavens. The pharaoh stood at the center of Egypt’s religion as well as its government and army. Egyptians believed that the pharaoh bore full responsibility for the kingdom’s well-being. It was the pharaoh who caused the sun to rise, the Nile to flood, and the crops to grow. It was the pharaoh’s duty to promote truth and justice.

Topic 3: Pyramids Egyptians believed that their king ruled even after his death. He had an eternal life force, which continued to take part in the governing of Egypt. Since kings expected to reign forever, their tombs were even more important than their palaces. For the kings, the resting place after death was an immense structure called a pyramid. The period from 2660 to 2180 B.C. was the great age of pyramid building in ancient Egypt. These magnificent monuments were remarkable achievements, built by people who had not even begun to use the wheel. The Great Pyramid of Giza is made of limestone blocks that weighed up to 15 tons. The entire structure covered more than 13 acres and built to a height of 481 feet.

Topic 4: Writing The development of writing was one of the keys to the growth of Egyptian civilization. Symbolic pictures were the earliest form of writing in Egypt, but scribes quickly developed a more flexible writing system called hieroglyphics. As with cuneiform (Mesopotamia), a picture stood for an idea in hieroglyphics. Hieroglyphics were first written on stone and clay, but they soon invented a better writing surface – papyrus reeds. These grew in the marshy delta. The Egyptians split the reeds into narrow strips, placed them crosswise in two layers, dampened them, and then pressed them. As the papyrus dried, the plant’s sap glued the strips together into a paperlike strip.

Topic 5: Government To the Egyptians, kings were gods. The Egyptian god-kings, called pharaohs, were thought to be almost as splendid and powerful as the gods of the heavens. This type of government in which rule is based on religious authority is called a theocracy. Therefore, if a country’s government is run by the religious leader, it is known as a theocracy.

Topic 6: Mummies! People of all classes planned for their burials, so that they might safely reach the Other World. Kings and queens built great tombs, such as the pyramids, and other Egyptians built smaller tombs. Royal and elite Egyptians’ bodies were preserved by mummification, which involves embalming and drying the corpse to prevent it from decaying.

“First, they draw out the brains through the nostrils with an iron hook…Then with a sharp stone they make an incision in the side, and take out all the bowels…Then, having filled the belly with pure myrrh, cassia, and other perfumes, they sew it up again; and when they have done this they steep it in natron (a mineral salt), leaving it under for 70 days. At the end of 70 days, they wash the corpse, and wrap the whole body in bandages of waxen cloth.”

Topic 7: Polytheism Like the Mesopotamians, the early Egyptians were polytheistic, believing in many gods. The most important gods were Re, the sun god, and Osiris, god of the dead. In all, Egyptians worshiped more than 2,000 gods and goddesses. They built huge temples to honor the major deities. Egyptians believed in an afterlife, a life that continued after death. Egyptians believed they would be judged for their deeds when they died. To win eternal life, the heart could be no heavier than a feather and then the soul could live forever in the beautiful Other World.

Summary Turn on the back of your paper. You have to draw five things that represent what you just learned about Egypt!